Antistatic agents are used in processes for the polymerization of olefins to avoid electrostatic charging. It is believed that the antistatic agents reduce wall sheeting and formation of polymer agglomerates in the polymerization reactor and downstream equipment. In some instances, antistatic agents include antifouling agents, polymerization process aids, activity inhibitors, productivity inhibitors or kinetic modifiers. Antistatic agents are made from or contain polar functional groups. In some instances, the polar functional groups are selected from the group consisting of acid groups, ester groups, amine groups, amide groups, hydroxyl groups, and ether groups. In some instances, antistatic agents are selected from the group consisting of polysulfone copolymers, polymeric polyamines, polyalcohols, hydroxyesters of polyalcohols, salts of alkylarylsulfonic acids, polysiloxanes, alkoxyamines, and polyglycol ethers.
It is believed that some antistatic agents may negatively impact the activity of olefin polymerization catalysts. It is also believed that the use of some antistatic agents in the preparation of polyolefins may prevent the use of those polyolefins in food, beverage and medical packaging.
It is believed that water and other light polar compounds are less efficient than other antistatic agents. Notably, it is believed that water acts indistinctly on growing polymer particles independently from their size while other more efficient antistatic agents interact preferentially with the smaller particles that have higher capability to react with each other and generate melted agglomerates.